Professional Development

Info

Our IMSD Program offers students the opportunity to work one-on-one with nationally recognized professional development consultants. Each student can choose to work with one or all of these talented professionals based upon their own career needs.

Public Speaking - Scott Morgan is the author of Speaking About Science: A Manual for Creating Clear Presentations. Scott works routinely with PhD scientists to prepare them for interviews, job talks, and scientific presentations.

Scientific Writing - Pam Hurley, PhD consults with Industry, government, and university scientists to increase the organization, clarity, and emphasis of their scientific writing. Pam helps students navigate the grant writing process and transform their research into compelling grant/fellowship proposals. http://www.hurleywrite.com/

Career & Life Coaching - Denise Saunders Ph.D. has worked with graduate students and postdocs For years. She coaches scientists to help them identity their passions, navigate graduate and post-graduate training, and reach their career goals.

Mentorship Program - Senior trainees mentor new graduate students. This program provides new students with access to a senior graduate student mentor and senior students the opportunity to gain experience in mentorship.

Academic Coaches – Whether it’s a course in cell biology or bioinformatics, or preparation for comprehensive exams, IMSD students can be matched with coaches to assist them with enhancing their performance in graduate coursework and on qualifying exams.

Additional Professional Development Opportunities at UNC and in the surrounding area

TIBBS- The Training Initiative in Biomedical and Biological Sciences offers professional development, career awareness, and social events for all UNC biomedical graduate students including IMSD students. TIBBS career workshops invite panelists from nonacademic careers (teaching, science policy, science writing, industry and government scientists, patent agents) to discuss their experiences and how PhD scientists can transition into their career field. TIBBS also offers a certificate series in teaching science at the collegiate level and an annual postdoc bootcamp.

Science Outreach – Through a number of science outreach programs at UNC, we bridge the gap between university educators and schools by bringing scientific principles and discovery from the research laboratory into North Carolina K-12 classrooms. DNA Day is a science outreach opportunity where graduate students visit high school classrooms across North Carolina and present a hands-on engaging science activity about DNA or the Human Genome.

UNC Graduate School- The Graduate Student Professional Development Program seeks to aid students in their development by serving as a gateway to campus resources and providing direct services. This program complements the efforts of established academic programs and other student-services units.

UNC Center for Faculty Excellence– An instructional support center dedicated top supporting teaching and learning that offers a wide variety of programs and services that support excellence in teaching.